Tuesday, 22 March 2016

For nearly ten
year's Germany’s Atomic Neon has been flying the flag for darkly
brooding gothic rock. Having only just released their latest album
'Down' on Black Rain Records, the band return with a slightly
different take on their sound in the form of 'The Bodanegra
Sessions'. The album consists of tracks recorded between 2012 and
2016 featuring Rio Black on vocals as usual but all music written by
Bodanegra.

Blending the madcap melancholy of The Cure's early
years with the steady malevolent mechanical beats of The Sisters Of
Mercy, and injecting the result with subtle electronics the album is
a pop-friendly but dark throwback to the 80s.

The album lacks
the band's usual fully augmented sound but what they do present on
this special release is nonetheless valid. Songs such as 'Dark City',
'He Looks Like A Vampire', 'The Walking Dead', '… And The Night!',
'The Fall', and 'Buried Machine' are enjoyable tracks with steady
dance appeal and more than a big dose of nostalgia thrown in for good
measure.

The production is pretty basic compared to the
band's usual standard and it leaves the album with a kind of
unfinished vibe to it. It does sound unrepentant in its retro chic
which holds it back as a modern gothic album – however if you were
to stand this alongside releases from the 80s it would more than hold
its own.

This is an odd curve-ball from Atomic Neon, and
perhaps one more for collectors/fans rather than the casual
listeners, but there is still plenty of enjoyment to be had here. It
certainly isn't as strong as the band's 2015 album 'Down', but it has
a charm that is hard to deny.